# Bill Watterson returns to comics without telling anyone **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2014, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256 "2014-06-07T06:28:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/61 "2014-06-08T17:15:14Z")
Early fifties here, age-wise, and have always been a big Pogo fan. Used to cut out the Sunday strips from the Daily News so I had them to refer to when necessary. As good as Calvin and Hobbes?..maybe. It’s close. Krazy Kat I never could get into. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/62 "2014-06-08T18:24:11Z")
> [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](#): > > I’m reminded of the story of The Beatles and Saturday Night Live. There was an episode in 1979 or thenabouts where, as a gag, the producer appeared on camera and offered The Beatles something like FIFTY-EIGHT DOLLARS! to reform. They could split it four ways and give Ringo a little bit less. > > And by coincidence Paul McCartney was watching it on TV in New York, and he phoned up John Lennon - and John Lennon was watching it too, and for a tiny brief moment they thought it would be funny to get hold of George and Ringo and turn up at the SNL studios the next week and collect the reward. > … > (looks it up) > > Oh, the details are different. According to [this](http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/satnite.htm), the sum was $3,000, and McCartney was actually at Lennon’s apartment, and it was 1976. I’ve often wondered what they would have played. Did anybody care about The Beatles in 1976? They were has-beens at that point, surely. Wow mangled the story, didn’t know that later George showed up and jokingly asked about the cash and thought the Beatles were has-beens. If you haven’t notice, it is 50 years later and the Beatles are still big and popular. Only a handful of music performers have had their staying power in the popular mind. Sinatra & Elvis are the only ones I can think of in fact. > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > C & H > Peanuts > Far Side > Doonesbury > Bloom County > > My all time faves… Funny Peanuts would round out my top 5. > [@randwill](#): > > Most here are probably to young to know (or care) but **Pogo** rules over them all. I remember Pogo, I have read one collection, like Doonesbury it is not holding up that well. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Speaking of comics, why the reruns on Doonesbury? He is only doing Sunday strips now, he has some sort of TV show going now instead. > [@samclem](#): > > You’d probably have to be in the age group 60-80 to appreciate how good it was at the time. > > It was the Doonesbury/Calvin and Hobbes of it’s generation. As I said above, I don’t think Pogo or Doonesbury hold up the way C&H or Far Side do and both strips ran far past their best days. > [@Sir\_Prize](#): > > Calvin and Hobbes is timeless. I don’t think you have to be from a certain generation to appreciate it. Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/63 "2014-06-08T18:25:53Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > I think that was intentional - in the first strip, Libby actual comments “first try”. Took her a day to hit her stride. I like the comment in the second strip: “I could do better if I had more space.” ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/64 "2014-06-08T18:31:22Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > BTW–the third chick in the “bathing beauty” strip is probably Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. I thought Sabrina had white hair? Did it change at some point? ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/65 "2014-06-08T18:57:24Z")
My favourite strips were Peanuts, Doonesbury, Bloom County, and Calvin & Hobbes. The problem with D and BC, now, are that they were fairly topical and what was edgy then isn’t anymore. Peanuts and C&H, on the other hand, are still as relevant as they were when they first run (that is, completely irrelevant). ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/66 "2014-06-08T19:09:38Z")
_Peanuts_ has to be qualified - brilliant for quite a few years but then coasted on the same jokes recycled over and over again. The cautionary tale that Watterson had written he was afraid of in an anthology released not long before he hung it up (also complaining about how much more he could do with more space). _Far Side_ is timeless and never fell off. At 55 _Pogo_’s references went over my head at the time and are dated on later viewing. Does not mean it was not great for its time but classic for the ages? Nope, its greatness was in its time. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/67 "2014-06-08T19:18:51Z")
What Exit: > [@](#): > > I think with Doonesbury it is a matter of the strip being much better than the competition in the 70s and when he went on hiatus in around 1983 the strip was never as good after he came back. I disagree - I think his stuff in the late 80’s and 90’s was fantastic. I don’t think he went down in quality until the George W. Bush election, when many liberals who were once quite articulate lost their senses of humor and/or style and decided that reflexive Bush-bashing was the highest value to be achieved in their medium. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/68 "2014-06-08T19:35:21Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > _Far Side_ is timeless and never fell off. And of course Gary Larson did the same ( general ) thing Watterson did. Retired at the top of his game, which I think was a smart move. Really I admire those guys. They retired on top of the world at a youngish age with more money than they are ever likely to need. And _Far Side_ and _Calvin and Hobbes_ stand as pretty much unvarnished and pretty substantial pieces of art. They’re the gold standard for successful cartoonists. Folks like Schulz who kept working steadily inevitably entered a decline. I’m glad Schulz was happiest to continue to work, but there is no doubt in my mind his earlier stuff was better. Neither choice is bad from a personal POV, but I think from the standpoint of the body of work being produced Larson and Watterson made the better decision. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/69 "2014-06-08T21:03:37Z")
“A good woman is a good woman, but a good cee-gar is a smoke.” -Albert the Alligator. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/70 "2014-06-08T21:44:35Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > “A good woman is a good woman, but a good cee-gar is a smoke.” > -Albert the Alligator. –plagiarizing Kipling. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/71 "2014-06-08T21:55:49Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > _Peanuts_ has to be qualified - brilliant for quite a few years but then coasted on the same jokes recycled over and over again. Nah, IMHO some of the weaker bits from _Peanuts_’s last decade or so were ones where Schulz was trying to focus on new characters and new situations (such as Snoopy’s brother Spike, who lived alone in the desert, or Lucy & Linus’s little brother Rerun) that didn’t really have as much comic potential. _Peanuts_ was definitely past its golden age in the last decade or two of its run, but it never completely "lost it’: there are still strips from that era that I find amusing or thought-provoking or once in a while made me laugh out loud. > [@Tamerlane](#): > > And of course Gary Larson did the same ( general ) thing Watterson did. Retired at the top of his game, which I think was a smart move. Really I admire those guys. They retired on top of the world at a youngish age with more money than they are ever likely to need. And _Far Side_ and _Calvin and Hobbes_ stand as pretty much unvarnished and pretty substantial pieces of art. They’re the gold standard for successful cartoonists. > > Folks like Schulz who kept working steadily inevitably entered a decline. I’m glad Schulz was happiest to continue to work, but there is no doubt in my mind his earlier stuff was better. Neither choice is bad from a personal POV, but I think from the standpoint of the body of work being produced Larson and Watterson made the better decision. I have a lot of respect for both Watterson and Schulz: Watterson for hanging it up before it began to get stale and never lowering his standards, Schulz for continuing to personally and singlehandedly produce a strip, without breaks or reruns, for ~50 years. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/72 "2014-06-08T22:02:12Z")
I never got the humour in “Peanuts.” It never made me even remotely smirk. It was the most unfunny comic strip ever. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/73 "2014-06-08T22:09:10Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > –plagiarizing Kipling. [Did he?](http://www.bartleby.com/364/31.html) 🙂 I believe it was Len Deighton who attributed a quote to him as “Walt Kelley, Subversive American Cartoonist.” ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/74 "2014-06-08T22:14:46Z")
> [@Sir\_Prize](#): > > Calvin and Hobbes is timeless. I don’t think you have to be from a certain generation to appreciate it. I think that’s partly because Watterson is such Luddite. Kids running around in the woods and having imaginary friends is pretty timeless, and since that’s what he’s interested in, the strip holds up. I can only think of a couple of strips that reference something like a VCR that are dated references. It’s a shame in some ways that Watterson’s career wasn’t ten or fifteen years later. If he’d been writing from 1995-2005, or maybe 2000-2010, he might have been able to transition into a successful webcomic. Given Watterson’s well-publicized fights with newspapers about the size and panel composition of his comic, he might have been a lot happier, since he’d be able to draw his comic in absolutely any size and shape he wanted. Of course, Watterson has also commented that he doesn’t find the same appeal in glowing pixels that he does in ink on paper, so who knows. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/75 "2014-06-08T22:26:47Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I thought Sabrina had white hair? Did it change at some point? Well, “original” Sabrina had white hair, but when they redesigned her to look like Melissa Joan Hart (and made Hilda and Zelda blondes), her hair became more yellow. However, it was never red. But did Watterson have any say in the strip’s colors? Some dailies had problems with this - just ask Bill Amend. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/76 "2014-06-08T22:40:07Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Well, “original” Sabrina had white hair, but when they redesigned her to look like Melissa Joan Hart (and made Hilda and Zelda blondes), her hair became more yellow. However, it was never red. > > But did Watterson have any say in the strip’s colors? Some dailies had problems with this - just ask Bill Amend. You half-bailed me out TDG, so I owe you a brew. I just don’t remember–is it possible Sabrina had reddish hair on the Saturday morning (“Filmation” [?]) cartoon in the '60s? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/77 "2014-06-08T22:41:44Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I never got the humour in “Peanuts.” It never made me even remotely smirk. It was the most unfunny comic strip ever. Even if you don’t like “Peanuts”, that honor has to go to a strip like Nancy, Cathy or Ziggy wouldn’t it? > [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Well, “original” Sabrina had white hair, but when they redesigned her to look like Melissa Joan Hart (and made Hilda and Zelda blondes), her hair became more yellow. However, it was never red. Makes sense, thanks. I wonder if there was another minor Archie’s girl that was a red head? I can’t really remember the others any more. I see a Cheryl Blossom appeared in the 80s long after I had stopped reading them. Maybe it was her? > [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > You half-bailed me out TDG, so I owe you a brew. I just don’t remember–is it possible Sabrina had reddish hair on the Saturday morning (“Filmation” [?]) cartoon in the '60s? Absolutely not, that was where my main knowledge of Archie came from. She was white haired there. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/78 "2014-06-08T23:11:55Z")
[Cheryl Blossom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheryl_Blossom), I think. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/79 "2014-06-08T23:28:02Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Even if you don’t like “Peanuts”, that honor has to go to a strip like Nancy, Cathy or Ziggy wouldn’t it? Hey, don’t rag on “ **Nancy**.” It’s my favorite all-time strip. Perhaps it was not funny, but it definitely was not “unfunny.” ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256/80 "2014-06-08T23:31:35Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > Hey, don’t rag on “ **Nancy**.” It’s my favorite all-time strip. Perhaps it was not funny, but it definitely was not “unfunny.” Seriously? Nancy & Sluggo? Maybe you meant some other Nancy? Oh, the other really bad one was Mutt & Jeff. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-watterson-returns-to-comics-without-telling-anyone/690256.md?page=5)